Extreme weather around the world

Residents walk along a flooded road in PiliyanDala, a suburb of Colombo, on November 11, 2010. Sri Lanka sent in troops to rescue thousands of marooned residents in the capital after the heaviest rains in 18 years. Photograph: Lakruwan Wanniarachchi/AFP/Getty Images

Torrential downpours hit Sri Lanka on Wednesday last week, triggering flash floods which left two dead and damaged 261 homes. The capital, Colombo saw its heaviest rain in 18 years, with more than 440mm falling in 24 hours, leaving much of the city under water.

The floods, which disrupted electricity supplies, closed schools and forced hundreds of thousands of people from their homes, were attributed to an unstable atmospheric belt.

Floods also hit south-western parts of Nova Scotia in Canada last week following days of heavy downpours which dumped 250mm of rain across parts of the province.

The flood waters swamped homes, forcing the evacuation of 120 people, and washed away a 20m bridge over the Tusket river on Tuesday.

Meanwhile much of north-east China suffered travel disruption owing to blizzard conditions. The snow, which began late last Thursday, led to flight delays in and out of Taiping International Airport and prompted the closure of all five major highways in Heilongjiang province. The icy roads caused a pile-up involving 43 cars, injuring two people.

In contrast, Russia was enjoying unseasonable warmth last week. The mercury in the capital topped out at 14.5C on Thursday, a new record for November, and more than 13C above the average maximum temperature for the month.